Manchester United new signing Christian Eriksen has spoken about his ‘good connection’ with Bruno Fernandes, which has helped the Dane settle in at Old Trafford.
Christian Eriksen was among the nominees for Manchester United’s Player of the Month award for September – won by Marcus Rashford – as he quickly became a vital part of Erik ten Hag’s side.
The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has found himself operating in a deeper role than he is renowned for, although he did perform superbly in a double pivot at Brentford last season. Now is often paired with Scott McTominay and they’ve been excellent together in the middle of the pitch.
However, the biggest benefit of having Eriksen positioned in a deep-lying role is we now have a player in the middle who can find Bruno Fernandes and other attacking players in advanced positions.
When asked if he and Fernandes had struck up an on-field relationship, Eriksen told ManUtd.com: “Definitely and it doesn’t surprise me. I mean some people see us as very similar players but they probably only look at the stats and don’t see us, the player and the qualities.
“We have different qualities, a different style of play and, with Bruno and in general, I think I’m learning to get to know all my team-mates better. I also get to know how they run, how they want to have the ball, how they move around and how I move around the pitch for them.
“We’re starting to get that connection. With Bruno, it’s a good connection and it’s nice to have such a good footballer in front of me.”
Talking about his deeper role in the team, Eriksen added: “I don’t know, I’m quite surprised about all the positional things. All the games, even when I was at Spurs, I started as a winger but would often drop down to get the ball, collect it and help the build-up back then so that hasn’t really changed in that sense.
“Obviously, you start on the pitch in different positions, then it’s how the team play and how the team wants to move, how the manager wants the team to move and then you move from there.
“I still feel I’m the same player like before maybe I’m a little bit further from goal in some games but it’s not like I haven’t been there before.”
Stretty News verdict
Eriksen and Fernandes are two players who make transitions happen in the final third. They are not like-for-like but they get bums off seats.
Ten Hag has found a way to make both players effective in his system, despite deciding to go direct with more high balls in recent games.
Eriksen is already the best central midfielder we’ve had in years.
